2'^i S, No 82., July 25. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



61 



LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 25. 1857. 



ORDER OF KNIGHTHOOD AND SEEJEANTS-AT-IiAW. 



The readers of " N. & Q." who have no distaste for a 

 little " quaint lore," may find some interest in the follow- 

 ing discussion upon the subject of the preeminence of 

 the Order of lynighthood before the degree of Serjeant- 

 at-Law. The hmdwriting is that of Sir Richard St. 

 George, Norroy in 1603, who died Clarenceux in 1635. 

 It is one of several articles upon precedence, written at 

 the commencement of a folio MS. entitled St. George's 

 Baronage, and has not appeared in print. X. Y. 



A Report of a familiar Conference hetween a 

 Knighfs eldest Son and a Student in the Law of 

 the Realm concerning the Preeminence of the 

 Order of Knighthood before the Degree of a Ser- 

 jeant-at-Law. 



The eldest son of a Knight, a youth of good 

 metal, having heard it bruited that of late the 

 Serjeants-at-Law strove to take place of Knights, 

 was desirous to inform himself therein, thereupon 

 he got the Book intituled Honor, Military and 

 Civil, and that which is called the Glory of Gene- 

 rosity, wherein many worthy things he found 

 written of the honor of Knighthood, but finding 

 very little of the degree of the Serjeant-at-Law, 

 but not being satisfied therewith, he bethought 

 him of an acquaintance, a good student in the law 

 of the Realm, and cast about how he might get 

 from him how the law of the Realm did account 

 of Knighthood. After some friendly discourse be- 

 tween them they fell to talk of the multitude of 

 Knights lately made : " I doubt not," quoth the 

 young gentleman, " it will breed a disgrace to the 

 whole degree." "It may be so," quoth bis friend, 

 "but seeing it hath pleased the King's Majesty to be 

 bountiful therein at his first coming, why sliould 

 the degree take any hurt thereby, for I can tell you 

 in our realm they have been of great esteem ? " 

 '* Why," saith the young gentleman, "what hath 

 the Law to do with them ?" "Yes," saith he, " I 

 remember well that this word Miles in our Law 

 hath been always taken to be Nomen dignitatis, so 

 that a Knight might not sue nor be sued but by 

 the name of Knight, though it were not so ne- 

 cessary for Lords and other gr'eat Officers to have 

 there title of their dignity added to their name in 

 such like cases." " What should be the reason of 

 that?" quoth the youth. " I am not ready," saith 

 the Lawyer, " to yield you a good reason of a 

 sudden, for I have applied my study to a more 

 profitable end, and have thought of these things 

 but obiter; yet in a short time I think I should be 

 able to say somewhat to the matter, for our law 

 is grounded upon exquisite reason ; but for the 

 present I suppose verily that it tendeth to prove 

 that the name of Knight was then in much re- 

 putation." " I pray you," quoth the youth, " be- 



stow an hour or two for my sake, to look into 

 the Abridgment, and gather me out of your cases 

 concerning Knights, and when I come to my lands 

 I will give you a double fee." " Give me time 

 till to-morrow," saith his acquaintance, " and for 

 your sake I will see what I can do." So for that 

 time they parted. 



The next morning thfi young Esquire came 

 again, and asked what he had done. "What," 

 quoth the Student, " you are very hasty ; it re- 

 quireth longer time yet, take here what I have 

 found in so short a space ; it is somewhat touched, 

 quoth he, " in the Book Cases of A° 40 E. & 

 36., and A° 7 H. 4. fol. 7., but more plainly A° 11 

 H. 4. fol. 40., where Tborning, Chief Justice of 

 the Common Pleas, saith expressly that ' if an 

 Action be brought against a Knight, not naming 

 him Knight, the Suit could not go forward, be- 

 cause,' said he, 'the word Knight is a name of 

 dignity ; and most fully a° 7 H. 6. fol. 15., where 

 Richard Hankford having begun a Suit against 

 another about the presentation to a benefice, was 

 during the Suit made a Knight. In that case 

 Judgment was given that his Suit should go to 

 the ground ; and in the handling thereof Paston, 

 a gentlemanlike Serjeant, said that it was honor- 

 able to the Realm to make Knights ; and Babing- 

 ton, Chief Justice, said that if any mete man being 

 sent for did refuse to take upon him that Order and 

 honor, for so the words be, he was to be fined, and 

 in a Case a° 32 H. 6. fol. 29., it is affirmed by 

 Prisot, a great learned Judge, that if an Esquire 

 be made a Knight, the name of Esquire was gone, 

 but if a Knight were made an Earl or Duke, the 

 name of Knight remained ; and a° 7 E. 4. fol. 23., 

 at two several times divers of the Judges were of 

 opinion that this word Knight was not only Nomen 

 dignitatis, but parcel of his name also. Take 

 this," quoth he, " for the present, and at more 

 leisure I shall find more." 



" Well," saith the other, " I thank you for this, 

 but tell me, I pray you, is the Law so still ? " 



" Yea, surely," answered the Student, " for any- 

 thing I know, save that I remember there was a 

 Statute made a° 1 Edw. the VI., to remedy the 

 overthrowing of the Suit, if the Plaintifi" during 

 the continuance thereof were made a Knight." 

 " That hath good reason," replied the youth : " in 

 my little skill, it is hard that a Suit well begun 

 should be dashed by an addition of honor," and so 

 bidding him farewell. Saith the Student unto 

 him, "you are at good leisure : take here, I will 

 lend you the Statute Book in English ; turn them 

 over, perhaps you may find there of Knights for 

 your purpose, for I remember somewhat, but it is 

 not now ready with me." 



The young Esquire took the book home with 

 him, and being sett on edge, began with the great 

 Charter of restitution and confirmation of the An- 

 cient Customs and Liberties of England granted by 



